The present simple tense, also called the present indicative tense, in French is similar to its counterpart in English.
However, we need first to learn the infinitive.
Verbs in their infinitive form in French have one of the three endings: “-er,” “-ir,” or “-re.” When conjugated, these endings are replaced with different conjugation suffixes based on the subject.
In English, verb conjugation in the present tense is quite simple. For example, the verb “to break” is conjugated as follows: I/you/we/they break, he/she/it breaks. Thus, there are only two conjugation forms of the verb “to break” in the simple present tense, which are “break” and “breaks.”
In French, it is a little more complicated. Regular verbs in the present indicative tense follow different conjugation rules as shown in the examples in the following table from each verb group: “-er,” “-ir,” and “-re.” First, the stem is formed by removing the final “-er,” “-ir,” or “-re.” Then, the conjugation ending is added depending on the personal pronoun.
Pronunciation
Notice that the conjugation suffixes of the singular forms in the table above are not pronounced.
In other words, “parle” and “parles” are both pronounced the same i.e., /paяl/.
Similarly, “finis” and “finit” are both pronounced the same, i.e., /fi-ni/.
In addition, the third-person plural suffix “-ent” is never pronounced, e.g., “parlent” /paяl/, “vendent” / vãd /, etc.
Irregular Verbs
Not all verbs are regular in the present simple tense in French. For example, the verbs “être” /etя/ (to be), “avoir” /av-waя/ (to have), and “aller” /a-le/ (to go) are three important verbs in French used to form sentences and as auxiliary verbs. These verbs are completely irregular and are conjugated as follows:
| être (to be) | avoir (to have) | aller (to go) | ||||
| je/j’ | suis | /swee/ | ai | /e/ | vais | /ve/ |
| tu | es | /e/ | as | /a/ | vas | /va/ |
| il/elle/on | est | /e/ | a | /a/ | va | /va/ |
| nous | sommes | /som/ | avons | /a-võ/ | allons | /a-lõ/ |
| vous | êtes | /et/ | avez | /a-ve/ | allez | /a-le/ |
| ils/elles | sont | /sõ/ | ont | /õ/ | vont | /võ/ |
You can learn more about irregular verbs in the present indicative tense in Level II, Lesson 2.
Present Indicative vs. Present Subjunctive
It is important to note that the present tense we have discussed so far is also called the present indicative tense to distinguish it from the present subjunctive tense. The indicative and the subjunctive are two different moods. You do not have to worry about the difference for now.
We cover the subjunctive mood in Level IV, Lesson 5. As we progress with more advanced tenses in the levels to come, refer to the French Verb Conjugation Chart, and use it as a cheat sheet to gain perspective on the different moods and tenses in French.
Other lessons in Level I:
